


No Pets Allowed

by jesus-otaku (amiraculousladybug)



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Gen, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Platonic Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-14
Updated: 2016-04-14
Packaged: 2018-06-02 07:30:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6557368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amiraculousladybug/pseuds/jesus-otaku
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gilbert has very poor decision-making abilities.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Pets Allowed

Antonio was rudely awoken from his afternoon siesta by a banging on his door. He groaned and ran a hand through his rumpled hair, wondering who on earth could be so insistent about seeing him. This was the one afternoon he had free each week, and it was valuable time off. It wasn't even his shift as dorm RA yet.

Grumbling to himself in Spanish under his breath, Antonio yanked on a shirt and went to the door. “I'm coming, I'm coming. Stop trying to break my door down, please,” he called. He rubbed at his eyes to try to wake himself up the rest of the way and then pulled the door open.

Gilbert Beilschmidt, of all people, was standing in the hallway, his fair hair sticking out in wild tufts and his reddish eyes alight with a strange mix of excitement and panic. “Hey, Tony,” Gilbert greeted him with his usual friendly grin. He seemed to be on edge, fidgeting even more than was normal for him. “Listen, can you help a guy out?”

Antonio sighed wearily and leaned against his doorframe. “And what do you need help with this time, Gil? Can it maybe wait an hour or two?”

Gilbert's face went sheepish, and he lifted his hands, which were cupped one over the other loosely. He lifted the hand on top to reveal a tiny, fluffy bundle of yellow feathers. The feathery pile gave a shrill cheep. “This is Gilbird,” he explained cheerfully, as if carrying a chick to his RA's room was a perfectly normal thing to do. “The RA on duty said I had to get rid of him, no pets in the dorm and all that shit, but I can't just abandon him. You're an RA, you can keep him for me, right?”

Antonio resisted the urge to facepalm, reminding himself that this at least was not as bad as the time last year when Gil had allowed Elizaveta Héderváry into the boys' dorm unescorted under the impression that she was a very effeminate young man. That had nearly been an unmitigated disaster. “Gil, you know that RAs have to follow the same rules as everybody else in the dorm,” he pointed out. “And _Dios mio_ , are you serious? _Gilbird_? You named the poor thing after yourself?”

“It was Francis' idea,” Gilbert said defensively. “I asked him, if I hypothetically had a bird, what should I name it? So Gilbird he is.” He held the chick out to Antonio. “Please, Tony, there's only a month left before break. I'll take him home with me then and have my brother take care of him.” Gilbert's brother was a high school senior who was far more responsible than his years. He would probably take much better care of the chick than Gilbert could. “Pleeeaaaase?”

Antonio looked at the chick, which was peeping innocently, and then at Gilbert's desperate face, and sighed. Someday, he thought, he needed to learn how to say no to a friend in need. “All right.”

~

Gilbird's temporary home with Antonio lasted about two weeks. Then it was Francis' turn to be rudely awoken, this time by a rap at the door at an unheavenly hour of the morning. He yanked open his door blearily to a very tousled and frustrated-looking Antonio carrying a chick in a small newspaper-lined box.

“I can't take it,” Antonio announced without so much as a word of greeting. “I am losing my mind, Francis.” He held out the box with its peeping contents to Francis. “Please take Gilbert's infernal bird. If I have to spend one more day with this animal, I'm going to snap.”

Francis stared at Antonio for a minute, baffled, before taking the box from him without really realizing what he was doing. “But being an RA doesn't mean I can keep a bird in my–”

“ _Gracias_ , Francis. I owe you.” And then Antonio was hurrying back down the hall to his own room, and Francis was left with a peeping chick in a box in his hands.

~

“Thanks again, Tony, for taking care of Gilbird,” Gilbert said gratefully as he closed the trunk of the car over his luggage. He looked Antonio up and down curiously. “So, where is he?”

“I gave him to Francis to take care of,” Antonio replied bluntly. “I'm sorry, Gilbert, but that chick was driving me out of my mind. It was allowing me no rest, and I couldn't get any studying done with it peeping all the time at me.”

Gilbert shrugged. “Well, at least Francis is driving with us. But Tony, if you didn't want to take care of Gilbird, you should have said something.”

Antonio sighed and ran a hand through his hair, leaving the brown locks messy and rumpled. “As if I would deny you a favor. We're friends, aren't we? Friends help each other out.” He noticed Francis coming out the front door of the dorm with his bags, and waved him over to the car the three of them were taking. “Hey, Francis. Do you have Gilbert's bird with you?”

Francis looked puzzled for all of a second before saying, “Oh, right, the bird. I got rid of him.”

“You WHAT?” Gilbert yelped. He looked horrified.

“Francis,” Antonio moaned wearily.

“I dropped by our hometown to visit last weekend and gave him to Ludwig,” Francis went on, and Gilbert's posture visibly relaxed. “I assumed that would be better than keeping him cooped up in the dorms.”

“In that case, throw your stuff in the back and let's get going,” Antonio said. Francis did as requested whilst Gilbert hurriedly scrambled into the front passenger's seat. As soon as they were all three situated in the car, they started the long drive home, Gilbert leaning out his open window and bellowing loud enough for the entire campus to hear,

“I'M COMING FOR YOU, GILBIRD!”

Antonio and Francis could only laugh.

 


End file.
